Mozilla CEO forced out over opposition to gay marriage

The newly elected CEO and co-founder of Mozilla - the maker of the Firefox web browser - was forced into resignation today after activists pressured the company over his donation to a political campaign that opposed same-sex marriage.

Brendan Eich was forced into resigning from the company he co-founded just one month into his new role as CEO. In 2008 Eich donated $1000 to the campaign for California Proposition 8 and was widely chastised by the left press and social media. After his recent appointment as CEO his vilification was reawakened and he came under pressure from employees, press, social media and even other companies. The online dating service OKCupid even blocking users of the Firefox web browser from their site. He has now been forced to resign from his own company entirely for his use of democratic methods to voice his political (and possibly religious) beliefs.

This pressuring was applied despite the fact that Mozilla explicitly stated they weren’t pushing Eich's private agenda as a company. As Eich wasn't acting politically in his job the activists gained no benefit from his resignation. Perhaps all they achieve is a little schadenfreude and a fleeting sensation of power from having someone with a different opinion be ousted from their own company.It's a reminder that those who preach equality, diversity and democracy the loudest are also some of those ideologies' greatest enemies. I'm reminded of the recent words of Lord Neuberger:

As has been said on more than one occasion, freedom only to speak inoffensively is a freedom not worth having. The more that arguments and views are shut out as unacceptable the less diverse we risk becoming in terms of outlook. And the less diverse we become in terms of outlook, the more we risk not valuing diversity and the more we therefore risk losing diversity in practice.

The newly elected CEO and co-founder of Mozilla - the maker of the Firefox web browser - was forced into resignation today after activists pressured the company over his donation to a political campaign that opposed same-sex marriage.

Brendan Eich was forced into resigning from the company he co-founded just one month into his new role as CEO. In 2008 Eich donated $1000 to the campaign for California Proposition 8 and was widely chastised by the left press and social media. After his recent appointment as CEO his vilification was reawakened and he came under pressure from employees, press, social media and even other companies. The online dating service OKCupid even blocking users of the Firefox web browser from their site. He has now been forced to resign from his own company entirely for his use of democratic methods to voice his political (and possibly religious) beliefs.

This pressuring was applied despite the fact that Mozilla explicitly stated they weren’t pushing Eich's private agenda as a company. As Eich wasn't acting politically in his job the activists gained no benefit from his resignation. Perhaps all they achieve is a little schadenfreude and a fleeting sensation of power from having someone with a different opinion be ousted from their own company.It's a reminder that those who preach equality, diversity and democracy the loudest are also some of those ideologies' greatest enemies. I'm reminded of the recent words of Lord Neuberger:

As has been said on more than one occasion, freedom only to speak inoffensively is a freedom not worth having. The more that arguments and views are shut out as unacceptable the less diverse we risk becoming in terms of outlook. And the less diverse we become in terms of outlook, the more we risk not valuing diversity and the more we therefore risk losing diversity in practice.